Iglesia Park residents want city to address needs

Oct. 3, 2013

Updated 8:33 a.m.

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Children and adults from the surrounding neighborhoods around Iglesia Park prepare to play a pick-up soccer match at the park's soccer field in Aliso Viejo on Monday. There is an average of 1 to 2 sprained ankles or related injury per game due to poor maintenance on the field, according to local residents. ANIBAL ORTIZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Edgar Lozano, left, 21, watches as the ball is stolen by Juan Gomez, 13, after tripping over a hole on the field at Iglesia Park in Aliso Viejo on Monday. There is an average of 1 to 2 sprained ankles or related injury per game due to poor maintenance on the field, according to local residents. ANIBAL ORTIZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A single portable toilet sits beneath a tree near the end of Iglesia Park in Aliso Viejo on Saturday. Residents of the surrounding communities say that the portable toilet is not enough for the amount of people who visit the park. ANIBAL ORTIZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The remnants of graffiti that was covered up along the side of the tennis courts at Iglesia Park in Aliso Viejo on Saturday. Graffiti has become more prominent along the tennis and handball courts. ANIBAL ORTIZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A series of mud holes on the soccer field at Iglesia Park in Aliso Viejo on Saturday. There is an average of 1 to 2 sprained ankles or related injury per game due to poor maintenance on the field, according to local residents. ANIBAL ORTIZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A man climbs down the wall and onto his bicycle from Iglesia Park in Aliso Viejo on Saturday. Residents from the surrounding communities who cannot find parking leave their cars elsewhere and often jump find alternative ways into the park. ANIBAL ORTIZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Mariana Millan, left, 7, Allizon Millan, center, 3, and Kimberly Javier, 5, play near the slide at Iglesia Park in Aliso Viejo on Saturday. The play area near the slide is often infested with trash and sometimes broken glass, according to residents living in the surrounding communities. ANIBAL ORTIZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Mariana Millan, left, 7, and Kimberly Javier, 5, play on the slide at Iglesia Park in Aliso Viejo on Saturday. The play area near the slide is often infested with trash and sometimes broken glass, according to residents living in the surrounding communities. ANIBAL ORTIZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A single portable toilet sits beneath a tree near the end of Iglesia Park in Aliso Viejo on Saturday. Residents of the surrounding communities say that the portable toilet is not enough for the amount of people who visit the park. ANIBAL ORTIZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Children and adults from the surrounding neighborhoods around Iglesia Park prepare to play a pick-up soccer match at the park's soccer field in Aliso Viejo on Monday. There is an average of 1 to 2 sprained ankles or related injury per game due to poor maintenance on the field, according to local residents. ANIBAL ORTIZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Opinions differ over what's become of Aliso Viejo's oldest development, but many agree the park has problems.

Take a trip to one of the few public parks managed by the city of Aliso Viejo, and you'll step outside the borders of the Aliso Viejo Community Association, the homeowners association governing every other residential development in the city – and which manages most parks in Aliso Viejo. The Iglesia Park community annexed by the city in 2001 is outside the original boundaries of the planned community.

The community's geography complicates what many residents say are the problems – Iglesia is on the city's boundary and, with little parking, outsiders often don't see what's actually going on.

Many residents say they love the park, but they've asked for public restrooms for more than five years, and the park's design creates safety risks: a soccer field covered in gopher holes and mud, an unkempt trail behind the tennis courts littered with trash, poor lighting in the back of the park. But many say the city doesn't seem to notice these problems.

WHO'S COMPLAINING?

City officials say they're aware of the parking problem, but as far as maintenance of the park, they haven't gotten any complaints.

“The interesting part of it is that we the city have not gotten any complaints. Nobody has called to say that we have a concern,” said Karen Crocker, Aliso Viejo's director of community services, about the park. She added the city has hosted many community meetings over the years – the next one is Wednesday. “If anything, I would say I'm surprised.”

“Our park is looking better than it's looked in years right now,” said Gracie Duran, community services coordinator. “We do have a gopher problem out there, so our public works department has been working with that, which causes the holes.”

Ask residents using the park about the facilities, and many of them think otherwise.

“Le falta todo (Everything's missing at this park),” said Guillermina Contreras, a five-year resident in the community, as she played board games in the park with her family. They need benches, they need a bathroom, and there are times when pine cones fall from the trees and hit kids playing on the playground, she said.

Contreras, like many other renters in the neighborhood, didn't know she was welcome at the community meetings hosted by the city. She said she was under the impression those were just for homeowners.

Crocker said the city's tried numerous times to apply for grants to pay for restroom facilities. The last application submitted in January for a $350,000 Community Development Block Grant was denied, Crocker said.

But Veronica Lopez, who's lived in the community since 1998, said the community's been asking for restrooms for a long time.

“We have explained to the city many times on many occasions that we have concerns,” Lopez said, who added bathrooms have been a request for at least five years. “They've done some stuff but we've been on their case about this for so long.”

Then there's the soccer field, where most weekday evenings neighbors organize a pickup game – but in addition to the opposing team, players have to dodge dozens of gopher holes and a sizeable patch of mud in the middle of the field.

“Just right now, I almost fell and tripped two times because there (are) little holes,” said Marcos Morales, who was kicking around a ball Saturday.

Xochitl Sotelo, five-year renter in the community, said she stopped using the field after a trip and fall about two weeks ago.

“My kids go and play because they're young and can take the fall. But those that are older can't deal with that,” Sotelo said in Spanish.

IGLESIA PARK'S PARKING

Sit at the park for more than an hour and you'll likely spot a person or two jumping into the neighborhood over a wall between nearby church parking lots and the cul-de-sac next to the tennis courts.

Local church leaders said they've had to enforce parking rules at their own lots as a result of the lack of available parking.

In the evening, cars vie for any spot along the public street winding through the community crammed with cars.

Residents say people fight over parking, and nearby churches say they've had to tow people who park in their lots and jump over their fence into the neighborhood.

For Jerry Hill, a pastor at Pacific Hills Calvary Chapel, the parking problem – and trespassing that came along with it – became such an issue that they had to start towing. Eventually, they had to put up a gate between the street and the church, because too many people were passing through the parking lot and leaving alcohol containers behind.

Considering parking, “it's challenging,” Duran said. Director of Planning Services Albert Armijo said the city is considering doing a parking study at all parks in the city, which would include Iglesia.

Many in the neighborhood say that the problem is caused by too many people living in one home. But city code enforcement supervisor Ted Halsey said there's no city code related to a cap on the number of families living in one unit – though living in garages isn't allowed.

But for Marianne Schnaubelt, who's lived in the neighborhood since 1987, years of asking the city for help about park facilities, bathrooms and the density of the community has left her to wonder if the city really cares.

“Why are they just neglecting us? Why are we like the second class area of this beautiful city?” Schnaubelt said.

“We can't fix problems unless we really know about them,” Crocker said. “If people have concerns, residents or people using the park should call the city, please. And we monitor the parks on a regular basis, so we're out there. So if we missed something, it's greatly appreciated that the public calls, to address their concerns.”

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